Vison of Life...It speaks about my views towards what's happening around us, though many of the things represents Pune, a becoming Metro in Maharashtra,India yet most of us live in similar city life. In city day to day life all we face is problems around us; from traffic to water to slums to power supply & many more, but who has solutions? That's why the name
Vison of Life!
Sanjay Deshpande

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Wanted, Leader for Real Estate Industry!

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the
way…John C. Maxwell

Maxwell is an author,
speaker, and pastor who has written more than 60 books, primarily focusing on
leadership. And look at the way he has defined leadership in so simple &
short way! In any sports, profession or industry we need a leader to look at,
who by his unique way becomes the face of that profession. People like to see
him, copy him & joins that game or the particular field, thinking some day
they also can become like their hero who in actual is a leader! We have
Tendualkar in Cricket, Ratan Tata for Industries; Narayan Murthi/ Azim Premji
for IT, APJ Kalam for Science, Amitabh Bachhan for Cinema, Ustad Zakir Hussian
in Classical Mussic & the list is on for so many professions all across the
country. Best part is when first genre started towards their retirement adobe,
second genre was ready to grace the empty space of leadership in every field. While
Sachin has departed MS Dhoni is there for cricket, Shahrukh has already at top
for cinema, Kumarmangal Birla, Sunil, Bharati are there for Industries & so
the list is on in every field; except two & needless to say they are
Politics & Real Estate! Out of this politics was never my topic so I stick
to real estate. Recently my friend Ravi who himself is one of best critics on
Pune’s real estate called me & asked about a particular case regarding a well-known
builder& the discussion went of who
is number one, rather who is the leader in real estate? Though the call ended
with discussion about the problems the clients of that builder facing the topic
kept on lingering in my mind.

When we call someone
leader of a field that doesn’t mean just he has to be successful financially or
deliver result. For e.g. when we call Sachin leader of Indian Cricket then it’s
not only the centuries he has made or the number of times he has lead India to
victory or the maximum number of tests he has played, but it’s the way he has
carried the game & balanced it with his social image! He has taken the game
to such height by his on ground as well off ground behavior that entire sports
has got benefitted with it. Same role has been played by Mr. Bachhan in Cinema Industry&
Mr. Ratan Tata in various Production Industries. Before Tata the industrialists
are looked as just money makers & people living in ivory tower which are
banned for common man. But Tata’s changed that by
utilizing his profits for social upbringing of men who are deprived from any
good things in life. And most important is he hasn’t been forced by or asked by
any Govt rule to do so!He did it on his
own, that’s why any good culture of doing business is called as Tata culture!
It’s not these men have’t made any money & fame out of what they have done,
the did but the respect they earned in doing so from all classes of the society
makes them leader of their field! A leader by me in any
profession has to perform as that’s important but at the same time he should
take that profession to new high & gives dignity to the same. A
leader has to become face of that profession & make aspire younger genre to
join the profession & become an icon for them!A leader of the profession is someone who
will earn respect from the society not only for himself but in process for the
entire profession he is in; in short become the brand ambassador for the
profession is in! Here you can’t define the leader by just one single criterion
like output or money or fame but it’s multidimensional. As for me most
important is the respect he earns in eyes of the all segments of the society
not just being a successful leader but for being a good human being as well
& making people respect the entire profession he is representing by his own
conduct; that’s the true leader!

Now on this front let’s
see where the real estate stands; not that we don’t have big & successful
builders or developers. As many will describe themselves with the kind of
millions of sq ft built up area under their belt or mega townships & ultra luxurious
projects & in each Metro we have top ten contenders for numero uno
position; many companies have their establishments across the country with
projects going in Metros like Delhi, Bangalore & Mumbai! Yet can we take
one single name which has given this industry a respect or where common man can
say yes “builder ho to aisa ho!” Or is there any single house business i.e.
corporate name in real estate which has carved name for their entire dealing
process, where the customer can tell to other fellow developers to copy them or
expect to do so? And why only customer, like every new entrant in cricket wants
to goes in the history of the game like Sachin Ramesh Tendulakar has his name
in it, but is there any such icon in real estate, where the fresh lot can look
after & think, yes one day I too will be recognized by the way this group
is being right now! Many in the business won’t agree with me as there are big
players who has delivered & have a track record of fulfilling commitments
& then there are groups which are in the business for nearly three
generations now. But is that all? We are talking about leader of real estate
& just for a moment as the scene right now is same in politics, that there
are local leaders & national level leaders & country is being run by
them but can we take any one single name which can be copied or should be
copied by other leaders on the basis of moral, character & conduct? Same
here in real estate, the business is flourishing & people are making money
& so the customers are getting their homes & landlords are being paid.
Similarly large man power is getting jobs & turnover of real estate is one
of the highest as well the industry is major revenue earner for Local as well
State & Central Govts through various taxes.

Rather the bigger the
name in real estate the shadier it becomes, is the case, is what past &
present experience is! This is because of many reason, right from land
acquisition to getting clearances from various Govt agencies to so called
involvement of black money, real estate has to undergo lots of practices which
are the main reason for being considered it in gray zone by a commoner. And the
developer concept in itself has been arisen from the very fact that it’s
impossible for a common man to buy a piece of land & built his own house by
himself, especially in bigger cities! The entire process has been made so cumbersome
as well costly that, gone are the days where any person could buy a piece of
land, appoint a good contractor & get his home build as per his needs. The
major criteria for becoming a builder is you should have tow M’s i.e. money to
buy the land, which is raw material for the industry as well muscle power to
remove the obstacles in building the project over that land! Terms like quality,
customer care, commitments follows later & many a times even doesn’t matter
in the entire process.

This whole no leader thing
has a very bad impact on basic things like framing proper Govt policies for
real estate or urban development. The Govt policies of the real estate (if
there are any) are constantly changing making always a problem for the
developer & ultimately for the end user. In other industries before framing
any policy which is related to the industry, they are usually discussed with
the leaders of that particular industry, the pros & cons of the policy are
considered, suggestions of industry leaders are taken in account & after
that only the policy if finalized. As the real estate industry don’t have any
such leading figure neither at central level nor at state level, no such steps
are taken & all the policies right from FSI to height of buildings are
worked by people who have never build a single building in their life &
carried away as per their whims! Not that they are incompetent but somewhere
opinion of those who will be implementing that policy in actualhas to be taken in account & here the
role of the leader is most vital as it’s not for his individual benefit but he
can utilize his charisma for the entire industries benefit & exactly that’s
what real estate industry is missing today! Rather the so called top names in
the industry has been alleged for making policies for their individual
advantage only putting away the interests
of the common man who is seeking for his home.

It’s not only for the
Govt policies or for new entrant to the industry; today the real estate generates
biggest employment for manpower & mostly unskilled. This includes hundreds
of labor works, petty contractors & suppliers too. They all depend on the
industry along with their families, a good leader will ensure them that they
are dealing with good people & these people do care for their efforts for
the industry. Housing is the very basic & important need of human being,
may it be urban or rural. And the industry which takes care of this need is
leaderless is a fact. No kingdom prospers without an able king is what history
tells us, so it’s high time the real estate bosses should give a serious
thought for the leadership issue & for that firstly they should understand the
true meaning of leader! A business house with a
good leader takes care of every segment associated with their work. It’s like a
big banyan tree which while growing big, spreads on a large area giving shade
to many along with fruits & shelter to everyone who comes to it! And the
effect is the society looks at entire industry with respect & that’s what
real estate is missing, a leader with vision & attitude of the banyan tree!
Result of all such things is not only customers or the home buyer but
the entire society thinks of builders as just money making machines, who don’t have
any social responsibility or moral values or ethics while doing their business.

Being in real estate
business doesn’t mean just making money by developing the land but its building
a strong respect towards the hands who builds those walls! At the same time the society along with media should also
change the vision towards the builders & appreciate as well acknowledge the
good people & their good deeds in the industry. As these things are like
water & fertilizers for the new sapling of a banyan tree & then only a
leader will be born for the real estate industry!

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